Fate and Fortune
by Gatewalker
Summary: After the events of Radiant Dawn, Heather still desires to go on an adventure and have a story all of her own. Old friends, new friends, danger and maybe even a bit of romance await the clever rogue as she searches the world for her own destiny.
1. Sage Advice

_Author's note: So I was having some writers block on Sword and Shadow and decided to work on something a bit different. This story will follow Heather on her journey to find an adventure of her own after the events of Radiant Dawn. Other characters from the game may show up here and there, as will original characters. _

_Warning: This fic will frankly play fast and loose with canon. I'm not really doing my research, I'm just going off what I remember from the game and my own interpretation of characters and events. If that's some cardinal sin of fanfic, then...well, I can't say I really care! I'm writing this one to have fun and take a break from the more serious Sword and Shadow. _

_So without further ado, I present the first chapter of Fate & Fortune. I hope you enjoy._

* * *

Chapter 1: Sage Advice

Heather scanned the top shelf with a critical eye, ignoring the ogling looks from the three men at the corner table. Sure she was here alone, and a lot of guys seem to take that as some sort of challenge, but there was one advantage to drinking at this particular tavern which made it so she didn't have to worry about the local louts.

On the other side of the bar, Calill lightly chuckled at Heather's careful study of her liquor selection, "The stuff on the top is expensive, sweetie. And strong, careful not to drink too much."

Heather arched an eyebrow, "I've got money. And don't worry, I know my limits. A glass of the Unicorn Rainbow, please."

As Calill reached for the bottle, a barking laugh came from the kitchen, shortly followed by her bear of a husband shouldering his way through the door and out into the bar area, "Unicorn Rainbow! Who drinks that girly stuff?"

Calill suppressed a smile as Heather gave Largo a very flat stare, then looked down at her own chest and then back up to Largo, "If you haven't noticed, Largo, I happen to be a girl. Girly drinks suit me just fine."

Handing Heather her drink, Calill playfully smirked, "Oh, I'm sure he has. But he better not have done too much noticing if he knows what's good for him."

With another hearty laugh, the big berserker left the women at the bar and made his rounds of the room, stacking plates and cups all onto one big tray and hefting that easily with his one good arm to lug back into the kitchen. This had the side effect of suddenly putting the men in the corner on their best behavior.

Watching Largo go about his work, Heather chuckled, "You wouldn't think he was crippled at all from how he acts. Or how people react to him."

"Oh, a couple people have tried to push their luck. Usually ends with them flung out the door. Largo can lift and throw a grown man with only one arm just fine, thank you very much."

"And it only takes once or twice for everyone else to hear about it and decide causing trouble here just isn't worth it," Heather noted. Then she smiled and offered, "I still think you should put a sign up. 'This establishment owned by a berserker. You have been warned.'"

Calill's immediate reaction was to smile at the joke, then she paused and looked contemplative, "You know, I just might. I'll just need to put it somewhere that I can see people's faces when they read it. Largo would certainly find it hilarious."

Heather chuckled again, though it was much softer this time...and perhaps a bit forced, "You two work really well together."

An eyebrow arched a bit on the Sage's face as she caught the nuance in Heather's voice, "You sound a bit jealous."

Inwardly, Heather cursed at herself for slipping in front of Calill. She knew the woman picked up on everything. Of course that involved pretending she wasn't secretly hoping for just that to happen, but pretending was something Heather was very good at. Taking another sip of her drink, she shrugged rather noncommittally, "...maybe a bit."

"Boy troubles?" Calill asked, then half smiled and corrected herself, "Wait, this is you. Girl troubles?"

Heather rolled her eyes, "Oh shut up. I like boys too, I'll have you know."

"Is that the problem?" Calill teased, "having trouble making up your mind?"

"I just don't see the point in limiting myself to only half the world."

"Planning on sleeping around that much, are you?"

Heather sighed and half glared at her friend, "I don't know why I even bother bantering with you. I never manage to win."

Calill just laughed, "That's alright dear, no one ever really does." Softening her smile a bit, she sat down on her stool behind the bar and leaned in, resting her chin on her hands, "Alright, so why don't you tell me what's really bothering you then? I admit I was a bit surprised to see you here, I thought you were going back home?"

"I'm just..." Heather paused, a bit unsure what to say. After a moment of awkward silence, she shrugged, "I'm just not ready to go home yet. I'm thinking about heading out. Somewhere. Going to have an adventure, you know?"

An incredulous stare started to work it's way onto Calill's face, "Saving the world from an angry goddess wasn't enough for you?"

Heather sighed and shook her head, "No, it's not that. It's...well, that wasn't my adventure. That was Ike's story, and Michaia's, and Sanaki's, and Elincia's, and Kurthnaga's and even Sothe's. I certainly don't regret helping, but...I still feel like I want to go do something else. Something that's about ME. That probably sounds horribly selfish, but I think I can be allowed a bit of selfishness after helping to save the world from an angry goddess."

"Well you certainly won't get any arguments on that from me." The sage mused a bit then asked, "Any idea where you'll go? Hatari might be fun to go and see, if you can stand the heat."

"I was thinking about that, yeah." Heather took another sip, then noted, "the main problem isn't deciding where I'll go. It's...well, I don't really want to go adventuring alone. The world's still a dangerous place."

Calill narrowed her eyes, "Please tell me you aren't here to try and find adventurers in a tavern."

"What? No." Heather shook her head, "I'm just trying to figure out who I should get to go with me. Most everyone I was friends with in the war have actual lives to be getting back to now."

"Uh huh. Do I have to ask the obvious question?"

Heather gave Calill another glare before answering, "She said she was sick of fighting, that she just wanted to get back to her life in the country."

The glare only made Calill smirk, "Oh, you asked her already?"

"Well...no. She just said that during the war, so there's no point to even asking, right?"

"So what, you're not even going to try?" Calill's tone took on a sharp, almost judgmental quality as she spoke, "Are you going to just leave without so much as talking to her first?"

The tone stung, but Heather wasn't the sort to shrink from an accusing voice and she snapped right back at Calill, "Why shouldn't I? It's not like she'd ever be interested!"

As quickly as it had sharpened, the Sage's voice and expression softened with a quiet comprehension, "So are you still talking about going on an adventure or has the topic moved on to something else?"

Her friend's quickly shifting demeanor combined with the insinuated change of topic caught Heather off guard, and a blush managed to creep onto her face. A quick check revealed that her glass was still half full, so there was no blaming it on the alcohol, either. With a deep sigh, she just buried her head in her hands and stared at the bar-top for a long moment.

"I'll take that as 'yes, the topic has changed, now please shut up Calill'."

"I just can't ask her to go. If we spend that much time alone, just the two of us, I won't be able to stop myself from making a move. And then she'll hate me. I couldn't bear that. Nephie just means too much to me to risk our friendship because I can't control my libido." Heather didn't even look up as she spoke, just muttered into the counter through her hands.

Fortunately, Calill could understand what she was saying anyway, "I admit, I never pictured you as the type to agonize over this sort of thing. You always struck me more as a 'take your chances and if it doesn't work then oh well' sort of girl."

Finally Heather looked up, a half crooked smile actually breaking onto her face, "That's just it, normally I am. But I've never let something build into this kind of friendship without taking the risk before."

"It sounds to me like you're risking losing the friendship anyway," Calill offered with a half shrug. "Do you expect she'll think that you care about her at all if you just run off without so much as a goodbye?"

"...you're right, of course." Heather sighed, then eyed her cup again and drained the rest in one gulp. After blinking off the sudden headrush from the very potent alcohol, she smiled sadly, "It's just not fair. That the one girl I really fall for isn't going to return it. Must be some kind of justice for all the hearts I have jus' played with."

Calill let out a deep sigh of her own, "One, I warned you how strong that stuff was. You're already slurring. Two, you don't know that for sure. Listen, do you want my honest advice on this?"

Heather let out a most unladylike snort, "You gonna use it as a chance to snip at me s'more?"

"Probably, but only after I give you real advice."

The candid answer seemed to amuse the rogue as she shrugged and chuckled, "Sure, why not."

Calill made to sure catch Heather's gaze and hold it before speaking, "Talk to her. Tell her what you feel, and tell it to her straight. ...poor word choice, tell it to her plainly. Let HER decide what she feels and what she wants instead of trying to do it for her. Even if you don't get the answer you want, you'll at least get her real answer. And I think you're selling Nephenee a bit short if you really believe she won't even want to be your friend after that."

Heather was quiet as she listened to the advice. One of the side effects of this particular alcohol is that it tends to make the imbiber rather giddy fairly quickly, and under it's effects she could almost believe that everything would work out well. But the advice sounded a little bit too close to 'honesty is the best policy', which was frankly something that Heather had never much agreed with. Quick fingers, a quick mind and a quicker tongue were the tools of a rogue's trade. They'd always served her well before, why should she abandon them now? But on the other hand, Calill was married. Happily, even. She knew about relationships that lasted more then one night or one journey. _Is that what I really want?_

Calill quietly poured her friend a glass of water as she sat there in thought. Heather was thinking now, which was more then she was doing before, and it was surprisingly easy for the sage to practically read her thoughts in her drifting eyes. As Heather started pulling herself back together, Calill continued with the second part of her suggestion, "Either way, I think you should ask her to go with you. If she says no, then ask if she knows any young hotbloods who would be up for a bit of adventure. Maybe someone who's upset that they missed the big war, or decided that sanity was over-rated and they liked violence now. You could be picking up someone to watch your back and getting a potential troublemaker off her and Brom's hands at the same time."

That got a laugh out of Heather, "Calill, we're both fighting women, we enjoy violence. And your husband thrives on it! What does that make us?"

"The likes of thee and me are many things, dear. But sane is not one of them. And Largo is a berserker, he's crazy by definition."

As if on command, the large man's voice boomed out from the back, "Do I hear my name being taken in vain?"

Calill called back with a bit of song in her tone, "Just reminding Heather that you're a lunatic, dear."

A heart laugh resounded through the door, "Ah, carry on then!"

Heather had to smile, "You two really are perfect for eachother."

"We are," Calill agreed, then noted, "but we didn't end up together by being shy. Largo could well have decided that a refined, elegant lady such as myself would never be interested in a brutish roughneck. But instead he presented his desires and intentions very directly and look where it got him."

"Alright, alright, you've made your point. I'll talk to her. First stop is to see Nephenee, then I'll head up to Hatari along with whoever I can talk into coming along. And from there..." Heather's voice trailed off as she shrugged and took a long drink of her water.

"Wherever the wind may take you?" Calill suggested.

Putting down her glass, Heather nodded, "That sounds about right, yes."

As the door opened and the dinner crowd started to file in, Calill pulled a key out of her pocket and set it on the bar, "Here, why don't you have some dinner, stay the night, and head out in the morning? It's getting a bit late to travel today anyway."

Unable to resist the return to banter as her spirits bounced back, the beautiful rogue smiled slyly, "Really? Not afraid I'll steal everything you own in the night?"

Calill returned the smile with a grin of her own, "You have a bit more sense of self preservation then that, dear."

"Oh? Remember, I'm a fighting woman, so I'm not sane."

"Being a bit crazy and having a sudden desire to become femme fatale en flambe are two entirely different things, I'm sure."

Heather rolled her eyes and grabbed the key even as she laughed, "I really don't know why I even bother."

But even as she grabbed her bag and made for the stairs, Calill's voice came from behind with the parting shot, "It's like verbal chess, dear. You only get better when you take on superior players."

_

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__Author's Footnote: Forgot to mention this above, but just a random thing about my style(and that of many others, I'm sure). Random sentences in Italics that aren't in quotation marks are thoughts of the character. Such as the "Is that what I really want?" line(only without the quotation marks!). I could use asterisks or double-colons or something, but they just seem clunky and Italics is how I've always done it. Of course if you've read Sword and Shadow before then you already knew that, but just in case you haven't, well, you know now!_

_As always, please review if you have the time, it's always fun to read comments on one's work._


	2. Fun in the Sun

Chapter 2: Fun in the Sun

"This is just getting ridiculous," Heather complained to no one in particular as she wiped the sweat from her face and let it drip from her hand onto the sand below. The desert of Hatari wasn't exactly the most pleasant place to be trudging through during the heat of the day, and yet here she was anyway. And without any real help, either. The pair of country toughs she'd picked up back in Nephenee's town had chickened out and took off on their own after just one day in the desert heat.

_Which was also, I'm sure not so coincidentally, the day after I'd made it very clear that neither one of them was getting in my pants._ A half-hearted smile crept onto her face as a vindictive thought came to mind, _I'll have to make a point of telling Brom how horribly behaved they were on top of running off and leaving me on my own. If they show up back home they'll get the beating of their lives and the lecture will likely be worse._

She didn't really have the energy to properly imagine the beating or lecture, though. Not in this wretched heat. Especially not at this time of day, where the sun felt like a knife made of light burrowing into the back of her skull. Inwardly cursing at the sun, she began wondering as she plodded onward how the wolves lived in this kind of place at all? She knew that Queen Nailah and Volug were tough, but there has to be a limit to what even they can tolerate. And what about food? She hadn't seen anything larger then a small bird out here since arriving a couple days ago.

Of course what she really wanted to know, was how much longer she'd be trudging on like this before running into one of them? According to Michaia, who she saw during her quick stop in Daein, Volug had gone home to take care of a few things while the Queen was visiting in Gallia, so Heather would at least have someone she knew there to call on...even if actually conversing with him was problematic. Still, that was best to worry about once she actually got there.

Peering up into the horizon, she could barely make out the shape of a large rock. Narrowing her eyes to focus better, Heather pulled out the map that Sothe had given her, a copy of the one Nailah had given Michaia should she ever need to flee to Hatari, and checked the shape of the rock against the landmark on the map...then let out a relieved sigh. The shape fit, and the mark on the map said there was water there, so she could refill her waterskins and rest awhile.

Taking a deep breath, and immediately regretting it as her mouth went dry the moment the hot desert air was inhaled, Heather set herself on a straight path for the rock and pushed onward, intent on reaching the shade and water the map promised as quickly as possible.

* * *

Unbeknownst to the dusty rogue traveling deeper into the desert, a large tan and gray shape padded along a ways behind her, camouflaged by the sand and the distance. One didn't exactly need to be close to keep the bright blue of Heather's cloak in sight against the endless golden sand of the desert.

* * *

Putting her back to the rock, Heather sat down next to the small pool of water that trickled up from cracks in the base of the rocks and took a moment to relax. But only a moment, since she needed to get her waterskins refilled, and it was best to see to that quickly. _In a place like this, it wouldn't surprise me if the water just decided to stop coming out. Best not to take chances..._

Pulling out the waterskins, the rogue poured the bit remaining in one skin into her hand and splashed it on her face, enjoying the moisture even if it was overly warm. The water in the pool was warm as well, but she didn't really expect to find anything cool in the infamous Desert of Death.

"Such a lovely name," she sarcastically scoffed aloud, though there was no one around to hear, "'Desert of Death', just has that inviting ring to it. Can't for the life of me imagine why there aren't more people here."

The sudden need to snark played out, she bent to the task of refilling her water supply as she muttered to herself, "Why exactly am I here again? Oh right, because I wanted an adventure, and being the first beorc, or at least the first one in a long time, to set foot in Hatari proper sounded like a good one. And because I'm crazy. I've even got proof of that," she snickered a bit, "why else would I be sitting here talking to myself?"

After getting her water, Heather pulled out the map and took a good look at where she needed to head to next. She was careful with it as well, since it was only fragile parchment instead of the sturdy leather that the original was on, and the entire trip would become suicide and nothing but if she didn't have the map. There was a reason that nobody had even heard of Hatari until Rafiel somehow led Nailah and Volug through the desert, afterall.

"Hmm, looks like a day north-northeast as the wolf walks to the next watering point. It'd take longer for most people I'm sure, but I'm pretty light on my feet so I should be able to keep the pace," she muttered quietly to herself as she went over the map. But even as she was studying the paper in her hands, a small movement out in the sand caught her attention.

Casually, and only keeping the corner of her eye on the shape, Heather rolled the map back up and put it back in it's scroll tube, not so coincidentally putting her hand close to her favorite knife...

* * *

The tan and gray shape quietly grumbled with a bit of annoyance. That human had been moving directly for the watering hole at the rock, almost like she knew it was there. Was that the paper in her hand? Did she somehow have a MAP of the Desert of Death? This...couldn't be good. Not at all.

As the human got to the watering rock, the shape followed her, silent and unseen, and then it began to circle around while creeping ever closer, intent on removing this threat before she could do whatever doubtlessly hateful thing she came for.

The stalking was done, now it was time for the kill...

* * *

It was the streaks of gray on the otherwise sandy brown fur that let Heather see the creature out there at all, really. Without that, the beast would have been damn near invisible against the desert sand. Still was, really. Or would have been to an eye less trained to notice every last little detail of an environment then a thief's. Even still, it was hard to tell exactly what it was, though Heather had a sinking suspicion that it wasn't friendly.

Keeping her back to the rock behind her, she half lidded her eyes and stretched with one arm, keeping the other close to her lap, only inches from the goddess blessed peshkatz knife that served her so well in the tower. The motion was pure bait, of course. She didn't want it to be obvious that she'd spotted the creature yet, since if it attacked without realizing that she was already ready, it put the element of surprise right back in her possession. The casual stretch also had the side effect of making her look non-threatening, just in case it was a laguz being cautious, maybe encouraging it to get closer and talk. Either way, it was in her best interest to look as harmless as possible right now, so after stretching she pulled her cloak over her lap and leaned back into the rock, pretending to settle in for the nap she had been considering taking anyway.

Now seeing the creature creep closer though her half-closed eyes, Heather slowly and carefully drew her knife under the concealment of her cloak. While it was balanced for throwing, it worked just fine as a melee weapon as well, a fact that her guest out there would learn the hard way if it decided to start something.

* * *

The beast paused as the human stretched and yawned and started to nap. Not a bad idea, normally. Alot of creatures liked to sleep through the hottest parts of the day in the desert, which is exactly why it liked to hunt then. The heat was bothersome, but it had learned to tough it out, and there was nothing quite so advantageous as sneaking up on sleeping prey.

Just a little closer...slowly and quietly it inched a little closer. Soon it would be time to pounce.

* * *

The moment the creature leapt, Heather rolled to the side, coming up in a crouch with her knife drawn back and ready to strike.

The wolf, as that's what the creature was, hastily tried to stop itself from plowing nose first into the rock that it's intended prey had been leaning against only a moment prior. It managed that at least, but getting turned about in time to face the armed, dangerous, and most certainly not asleep beorc at it's side was a different matter.

Heather took the opportunity she was given. Lunging towards her attacker from her crouch, focusing all of her forward momentum onto the point of her knife, she slammed the weapon into the wolf's side and buried it near to the hilt. Without hesitating even a second, her hands then tightened around the hilt of the peshkatz and twisted, wrenching the wound open.

A howl of agony erupted from the wolf's throat as Heather twisted the knife...but the cry wasn't entirely that of a primal beast. There was another tone to it, almost like a sobbing sound, that told the rogue exactly what she was fighting.

Even as the wolf tried to move away, Heather grabbed the scruff of it's neck with one hand, then released the peshkatz and drew her second blade with the other, placing it against the wolf's throat in the same fluid motion, but careful not to cut the skin. After the previous attack, even the merest cut with her backup weapon, the aptly named Beast Killer, would likely prove fatal to the injured wolf laguz.

Feeling the cold steel against it's throat, and realizing that it had made what could prove to be a fatal mistake, the wolf stopped moving, though continued panting heavily and whimpering with exertion and pain.

Heather nodded at the wolf's reaction, "That's what I thought. Now I hope you speak normally instead of just in the old tongue like some of you do, because I've got some questions and if you want to live you're going to answer them. Is this how Queen Nailah wants her people greeting visitors to Hatari? Or are you a lone wolf? You obviously aren't a Feral One at least."

The wolf laguz blinked, surprise hitting it even through the pain, as it croaked out in a low and gravelly, yet decidedly feminine voice, "You...what do you know of our queen?"

The rogue smirked and answered in a voice dripping with sarcasm and no small amount of superiority, "Oh, only that we fought together against the goddess Ashera after she tried to turn the world to stone. And Volug too if you know him. I'll admit I didn't talk to her much, but I know that she's not the attack first and ask questions later sort at least."

The laguz's ears flattened more with every word that came out of Heather's mouth. Attacking an ally of her queen was rather profoundly embarrassing, enough to almost make her forget about the knife still in her side. But she still had her pride, and even with her head hung low she muttered, "Um...I thought you were an enemy..."

Heather rolled her eyes, being a little used to laguz pride at this point, and continued, "I also know that your Queen is off visiting Gallia right now, but I heard from Michaia that Volug returned while she was away, so here's the deal I'm going to make you. I'll take my knife out of your gut and give you some vulnerary for the wound, then you take me to where Volug is so I can talk to him." Then she frowned and added, "And translate for me, since he refuses to talk normally."

"...you do know Volug," the laguz muttered, but she nodded(very carefully, as Heather had not yet removed the dagger held at the side of her throat), "Fine, agreed. I don't think I have much choice anyway."

"Well," Heather laughed, as she sheathed her Beast Killer and began to carefully work the peshkatz out from where she had lodged it, "you could say no and try to get home dripping blood the whole way. Since it doesn't look like you remembered to bring your own medicine."

The wolf didn't respond to that, and sat silently as the woman she just tried to kill tended to her wounds, flinching a bit as the cool medicinal cream sunk into the hot wound and started working it's magic.

"So do you have a name, or should I be calling you Miss Wolf?" Heather asked almost pleasantly as she rubbed the salve in, "And shouldn't you be shifting back soon, to conserve energy?"

"Killika," the laguz answered reflexively, too surprised by Heather's conversational tone as if nothing was wrong to be as stubborn and uncooperative as she had been planning on. The second question, however, provoked a fairly proud low growl, "And I do not need to shift back, I can remain this way as long as I please."

"Nice to meet you, Killika. I'm Heather." The polite introductions over with, she nodded along in understanding of her explanation, "Halfshifted, then? I suppose that would make traipsing through this sandy mess easier, wouldn't it?" The rogue finished applying the medicine and resealed the jar, since there was enough left for another dose or two still. Then she moved on to cleaning off her knife, which was fairly quick. She'd noticed that just like goddess blessed weapons don't break, they don't stain either. _Not that that property is overly useful, but I suppose anything that makes a girl's life a little easier when she needs to stab someone is welcome. _

In the interest of keeping the conversation going, Heather put her weapons up and settled back down next to the pool, "We may as well stay here awhile, give you a bit of time to recover. Maybe get going again closer to sunset, so the sun's at least a bit behind us."

Killika simply shrugged. An interesting motion on a wolf, but still unmistakable for what it was.

Heather chuckled. She couldn't really blame her for the attitude. No one likes making a stupid mistake and then being whipped that badly. Still, she was rather craving another voice then her own after being alone for a couple of days, so she started to ask questions that required verbal answers, "You know, that makes you the second wolf laguz out of the three I've met who can halfshift. And I'm sure Queen Nailah could if she wanted, but the royals don't seem to have any problem staying fully shifted as long as they please. Is that a common skill for your people? Lyre, she's a cat laguz, made it sound like Volug was pretty special for being able to, it wasn't something she'd seen before at all."

Killika shook her head, "...it's not common, no. I only know one other besides Volug and myself who can."

"Oh?" Heather prompted.

This made Killika eye her wearily, "You're awfully friendly for someone who almost killed me a minute ago."

Heather shrugged, "And you're awfully defensive considering that you're the one who attacked me. To be honest, it gets a little lonely traveling by yourself in the desert, so I'm happy just to have someone else to talk to. So I'm willing to let it go if you are, alright? Considering that I'm the one who has the right to be pissed here, that's a pretty good deal I'd say."

Killika's head drooped again. She really didn't like being reminded of her poor judgment and worse reflexes, but the way Heather phrased it really left her only two options. Agree like a reasonable adult, or act like a petulant child. Though she was still young enough that her instinct was to go for the latter, she was also old enough to know better and forced herself to slightly nod, "Fine. I forgive you."

A smile tugged at the corner of Heather's mouth as she raised an eyebrow, "You? Forgive me? I think we've gotten positions mixed up just a bit here."

This time Killika turned her head to glare at the mocking woman, "I thought you said you were going to drop it?"

"Oh, I was," Heather agreed with a smile, "right up until you tried to shift the blame to me before dropping it on your end. I'm familiar with laguz pride at this point, but you really should try to couple that with a bit more maturity."

Killika didn't respond to this immediately, but her glare didn't let up either. Heather simply met the glare with a sweet smile until one of them cracked.

Eventually Killika had to look away, and managed a very low mumble of, "...sorry."

Not wanting to antagonize the wolf girl any more then strictly necessary, and since she did hear it just fine despite Killika's attempt at mumbling it into the ground, Heather nodded and softened her smile, "Alright then, now it's dropped. So, what were you saying about someone else besides you and Volug being able to halfshift?"

"Nobody important," Killika evaded the question, and decided to change the topic before Heather pressed, "Uh, about that paper I saw you with? Is that a map? Of the Desert of Death?"

Heather mentally noted the evasion, but let it go for now, and nodded, "Yeah. With instructions on how to make it from Daein to Hatari. Apparently Queen Nailah made it on her first trip through, and then gave it to Michaia. When I told her I was going to visit Hatari she had a copy made for me. It's pretty useful, even notes where water supplies, like this one, can be found."

"Can I see it?"

Heather hesitated a moment before pulling the map back out of it's case, "Alright, but fair warning, if you rip this or damage it at all, I will stab you again. Fatally."

Killika nodded in understanding, then studied the map critically as Heather held it open for her. After a moment of looking it up and down, she made a face that Heather would swear was a blatant grin, then said, "Alright, that's all I needed to see."

Rolling the map back up and putting it away, Heather eyed her new companion with a curious look, "Were you smiling? What's so amusing about the map?"

"Oh," the wolf girl noted with a satisfied rumble, "I just noticed that there are plenty of thing missing from it. I could get you back to Hatari faster and more safely then following that map would."

This only served to heighten Heather's curiosity, "Really? How's that? And more importantly, why suddenly so helpful?"

Killika's tail started wagging of it's own accord as she proudly explained, "I'm the only wolf that dares go this far out alone. I know the desert better then anyone. And if I'm going to have to guide you back anyway, I'll want to use the best paths. Which aren't on your map."

Heather couldn't help herself and smirked as she twitted the wolf's pride a bit, "So, proud scout and mistress of the sands, and you still couldn't figure out that a lone beorc woman in the desert might be more then she appeared?"

That got her an active growl as Killika's hackles raised a bit, "How exactly is that 'letting it go'?"

Her reaction only made Heather laugh out loud, "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I can already tell you're going to be entirely too much fun to tease!"

The growl turned into an annoyed sigh, and Killika stood up, ignoring the pain still in her side, "Let's just get moving. Follow me, and try to keep up."

Heather's laugh died down to an amused chuckle, though she was still smiling as she got her gear together and got ready to go. It was nice to have someone else to travel with again. Even if it was a cranky wolf girl. _She certainly can't be worse company then those country louts..._

* * *

_Author's Footnote: And here we have a new character, Killika the wolf laguz. If Heather seemed to win that combat too easily, please keep in mind that a) Heather is endgame FE10 levels while Killika is not, and b) Killika was halfshifted. We all know what that does to a laguz's stats. Next time on Fate and Fortune, Heather and Killika reach Hatari proper, with a couple more familiar faces making an appearance! _


End file.
